


The Stars are All Here With You

by FrostKitten8



Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: Fantasy Flora, Fluff, Romantic Adventure, Snusmumriken | Snufkin is a Cat, also Moomin swears just never around Snufkin, cause shiny eyes are fun to work with
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 10:44:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19207762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostKitten8/pseuds/FrostKitten8
Summary: Snufkin spots a familiar and unique plant, and gets very excited to show its quirks off to Moomin.I like making up cool fake plants, and I love these lovestruck fools. It had to overlap eventually. Also, I decided to sprinkle in some of book!Snufkin's sheer zest for life- he chills out in the comics and cartoons, but in his first book appearance, he's so excited about everything, it's just adorable!





	The Stars are All Here With You

"Down please."

 

Snufkin obediently ducks his head, letting Moomin slip a fresh handful of wildflowers into the ever expanding wreath on his hat. When Moomin had first run up and excitedly tried to jump up high enough to place it over the top of the hat - at least until Snufkin pulled it down over his face to laugh and the troll took advantage of his habits - it had been a nice daisy chain, beautiful but simple. A few more hours in the fields, and Moomin's constant additions had loaded the poor worn brim with blooms of all sizes and colors. Not that he was complaining. Having to readjust his hat every few minutes to counter the growing weight was a small price to pay for the intoxicating perfume that drifted off of it now. An even smaller price for his dear Moomin's delight over his gifts.

 

"Oh _Snuf_ \- look at _these!_ " Moomin called from up the field.

 

Snufkin strolled over, waiting to see what strange bug Moomin was enamored with this time. Instead he found him crouching, plucking a bouquet of very unusual flowers. They looked much like bluebells, but with the brightness fresh stolen from them - stems and leaves turned a rich black, and the petals all painted in a dark blue that may have been taken for black if not for the slight contrast with the stems. He tilted his head, hat slipping dangerously far. They struck a chord with him - something vaguely familiar, but difficult to place. He crouched down next to Moomin to examine them more closely while the troll placed his first handful of the odd blooms in his crown. Just as a white paw started to wrap around the stem of one Snufkin happened to be looking at, allowing the light to briefly catch a small, white circle in the very center of the flower, the memory clicked into place.

 

" _Moomin, wait!_ " Snufkin called, a little louder than he meant, his paw shooting out to halt Moomin's own. Moomin jumped, looking at him with wide eyes.

 

"W-what? Oh no- are they dangerous!?"

 

Oh, fuss and muss. He'd upset him now. "No, no," Snufkin tried to reassure, "nothing like that! They're just _very_ rare - you shouldn't pick too many! Otherwise, they won't be here to be properly enjoyed."

 

"Oh." Moomin relaxed. "Hey, if these are so rare, should we bring Mr. Hemulen here? You don't suppose he already knows they're here, do you?"

 

"No, I don't think he does. They won’t have been open very long, and even so, they're rather difficult to spot this time of day."

 

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Wait." Moomin wrinkled his snout, confused. "This time of _day_? What does that mean?"

 

Snufkin smiled, tilting his hat down to a more mysterious angle.

 

"Well, Moomintroll… we'll just have to wait and find out, now won’t we?"

 

/

 

Late that night, Moomin lay in his bed, trying to fall asleep. He was having a rather hard time, puzzling over the riddle Snufkin had given him earlier that day. What on earth could he mean by the flowers being harder to spot in broad daylight? They were almost completely black - they would be much harder to find in less light, right? "It ruins the mystery if I tell you!" he'd insisted. It wasn't all that often Snufkin got caught up in dramatics, but he could be a real nuisance when he did… But he promised to explain some other time, so he might as well sleep. He snuggled deeper in his bed, letting himself drift to sleep.

 

_tap_

 

Just his nice, soft bed…

 

_tap tap_

 

His warm blankets…

 

_tap tap tap_

 

A branch hitting his window in the wind…

 

_tap tap tap tap_

 

Wait.

 

There wasn't a tree near his window.

 

_tap tap tap tap tap tap tap- **THUD**_

 

Moomin shoots up, rolling to look at his window. He's met with the sight of Snufkin with one arm pushed up, previously having been tapping on the window, but now pressed face first against the glass. Moomin hops out of bed and walks over to tap the window himself. Snufkin opens an eye, gazing almost pathetically at him as he pushes off the window and tries to regain his balance on the ladder long enough for Moomin to open the window.

 

"What are you doing? Are you okay??" Moomin whispers.

 

"I'm fine, just lost my footing a little." He states, casually straightening his hat, flower crown still attached but sporting some freshly crushed petals. "Come on, I want to show you something!"

 

A nighttime adventure? Oh, those are always so much fun! And everything Snufkin thinks is special enough to come wake him for is always so interesting - and always just for the two of them. They clamber down and Snufkin reaches back to grab Moomin's paw, rushing off into the woods, easily guiding him along through the dark paths shadowed from the moonlight by the trees. Moomin grips his paw tightly, caught between fear of tripping running so fast through the dark, and the thrill of being raced off into the night with such excitement.

 

He suddenly halts near the edge of the treeline, causing Moomin to bump blindly into him in the dark.

 

"I almost forgot! Close your eyes!" Snufkin tells him.

 

"…I'm sorry, what?"

 

"Quick, quick, close your eyes! I don't want the surprise spoiled!"

 

"Snuf, I don't have night eyes, I promise you I can't see shi- anything. I can barely see at all."

 

"Please?"

 

Moomin groans and overly dramatically lays his arm in front of his eyes, knowing Snufkin can see him far better than he can see Snufkin. Sure enough, not a second later, he's being pulled along again. The pine needles and leaves fade away under his feet to soft grass, growing taller and taller. He realizes they're entering a meadow of some sort - probably the very same one they were in earlier, if the way this ground slopes slightly up a few feet in is any clue. Is this what Snufkin meant by "wait and find out"? Is he finally going to explain himself?

 

He feels Snufkin's rough, work-worn paws gently pull at the arm over his eyes. "Okay, look now!"

 

Moomin looks around and can't hold in the dazzled gasp that comes from him. All around them, the sky has become the ground - small, blue flowers practically glow across the field, small silver flecks on their petals turning the field that's vibrant green by day into a perfect imitation of the night sky at its best.

 

"They're called stardrops - they normally don't grow this far north at all, and even where they do grow, you don't find many of them. They reflect moonlight - never sunlight, only moonlight - and it makes them shine like nothing else on this earth!" Snufkin whispers excitedly.

 

Moomin pulls his gaze away from the flowers to look at him, and has to fight not to gasp all over again. The flowers he placed in Snufkin's hat also sparkle in the moonlight, crowning him in stars. But much more than that, his eyes. His night-eyes, so startling by firelight, also reflect the light coming from both above and below, like two small moons watching the world with delight and wonder.

 

"They're very useful for potions when used right, so people have tried to grow them. But it's like trying to catch stars in a jar - they can't grow where they don't choose to be." He sighs, gazing over the field of starlight with a wistful kinship.

 

_"Nothing shines like you either…"_ Moomin thinks before he can catch himself. He blushes, quietly thankful he knows Snufkin can’t really see color in this kind of light.

 

They sit for hours in that Milky Way on the ground. They watch the sky and the ground in turns, but agree they can't find much difference. Snufkin amends that the lower sky is, however, missing a moon. Moomin looks at him again and believes the sky is missing one instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Some additional notes on stardrops that didn't really fit in the story naturally: They only reflect the light at just the right angle and intensity, so they only glow during a full moon, and growing in just the right spot. This is also part of why they're so hard to cultivate- they can only grow properly where the light will hit them just how they like it.   
> Snufkin mentions they're valuable for potions. If used right, they can be used for potions to temporarily grant or permanently repair night vision, or to make items glow. They're best harvested at night when they're in full glow, since this is when their lunar properties are strongest.   
> They prefer very warmer climates, thus why they don't grow as far north as Moominvalley. These seeds must have hitched a ride on something traveling north- maybe even a certain vagabond's boots- and gotten very lucky with an unusual warm spell passing through.


End file.
